Mega Man: Gigaverse
by Leia needs Pancakes
Summary: 70 years after a dangerous mission goes haywire, a group known as the maverick hunters is formed to protect the world from a new virus infecting innocent machines and turning them against man and reploid alike. Combines elements from the Classic, X, Zero, and ZX series. Reviews appreciated.
1. 20XX

**20XX**

Everything seemed to blur together as the young man ran through the corridors of this strange floating fortress, gunning down robot after robot as he ventured further in. The amount of times he's gone through this type of situation before has officially passed the point of being able to count with both hands, but regardless the severity of the situation was not lost on the armored robot in the slightest.

This young man's name is Mega Man, a legendary machine designed by renowned engineer Doctor Thomas Light, originally designed to be his lab assistant. However, Complications arose when Light's former colleague, Albert Wily, betrayed him and repurposed older machines the two built in an attempt at revenge for what he believed to be his old friend stealing his spotlight. Mega Man became involved in this conflict when he volunteered to be upgraded to combat Wily and save everyone from his rogue robots, being fitted with shiny blue armor including large boots, gloves, and a round helmet, an arm cannon, and the ability to copy the abilities of robots he defeats. He never enjoys destroying Wily's robots, evil or not, but today he had no time for concern; the clock was against him.

Wily had built a flying fortress, which was par for the course at this point, but what was noteworthy was where the airborne base had been positioned over. It was directly over the city of Arcadia, a massive city respectfully built around the nearby forests and valleys and a lax paradise for both humans and their robotic companions. This alone would seem rather trivial, if not for the fact that the entire bottom of the fortress was a giant laser cannon, and in mere minutes it would launch and completely wipe out the massive city below it, leaving nothing but a desolate crater where the last preserve of genuine, unharmed nature existed in the nation. That's to say _nothing_ of the potential millions of lives that would be destroyed from this terrorist attack. (Though Mega Man was more willing to hold onto the hope that evacuations went by smoothly and everyone was out of the blast radius, as the latter was far too gruesome a thought for him to focus on when time was of the essence.)

After mowing through some lesser enemy robots Mega man climbed a ladder and found himself standing in front of a seemingly bottomless pit. Emphasis on _seemingly,_ as at the very bottom he could make out the faint glint of light reflecting off the spikes below. Spikes… Every robot master had an innate flaw in their design, usually manifested as weakness to specific things. Air Man would combust from locking up if something like leaves jammed the fan implanted on his chest, Fire Man was understandably unable to operate properly in sub-zero temperatures, and so on. Mega Man's weakness is his rather fragile body, easy to impale with enough force. So what better way to easily dispose of Mega Man than to line the floor from a long drop with spikes? However, Wily was largely unaware of one glaring flaw in this idea.

Mega Man's helmet disappeared in a pixelated flash and revealed his unkempt black hair. He crouched next to the nearby wall to cover himself in case an enemy was nearby and pressed his finger against his ear.

"Dr. Light. I'm inside Wily's base, everything's going according to plan." Mega Man informed the air around him.

"Excellent news!" an aged voice stated through Mega Man's ear. "I assume you didn't stop everything just to catch me up to speed though?"

Mega Man chuckled softly. "I'm gonna need Rush Jet for this."

"Right. I'll go prepare him now." Light responded as the communication cut off.

Mega Man's helmet returned to his head as he stood back up, his armor slowly turning shades of red and white upon returning to a standing position.

A large burst of red light shot in front of him from seemingly nowhere, eventually fading to reveal a strangely robotic red dog with a peach face and large blue eyes.

Mega Man knelt down to pet the large canine's, who cheerfully pushed its head further into the boy's relaxing massaging motions. This dog's name was Rush, a robot made by Dr. Light to serve as a companion to Mega Man, both at home and in battle.

"Alright Rush, Jet mode!" Mega Man requested while he stood up from the dog. It nodded to confirm it understood his request, and began to lay down facing opposite Mega Man. Its body bizarrely flattened and contorted as it became completely flat on its back, and its feet practically locked into place on its sides.

Mega Man stood on its back, feeling the pull beneath his feet as they were magnetized into place. A whole opened in Rush's back paws as blue flames billowed from them, rocketing both Rush and his companion over the edge, into the spikes below.

...Only, they weren't quite falling. Instead, the propulsion was sending them barrelling towards the other side at incredible speeds, allowing the to cross this otherwise mission ending death trap with relative ease.

Once they were on the other side Mega Man's feet were let loose from Rush's magnetic hold on them and he leaped off, allowing Rush to unfold back into his normal form.

"Thanks, boy." Mega Man complimented the dog as he petted it again as reward.

His armor turned Blue once more and his helmet disappeared faded as he contacted Light once more. "Alright, you can bring him back now."

"Right then! Just one second…" Dr. Light responded as he audibly fumbled around trying to do something before Rush disappeared in the same beam of light he came in. "Take care now, Rock. Don't get yourself killed over there, we wouldn't be able to do much if you did!" He reminded the blue robot, in an oddly lax manner given the severity of the current situation.

"Right… I'll try." Mega Man said absentmindedly as his arm fell to his side, ending the conversation.

Mega Man smiled halfheartedly at where his dog once stood as his helmet reformed before running off deeper into the base.

He ventured further into the base, eventually finding a long steel door split into two sides, a large circle in the center. As he approached the circle twisted and the two halves retracted into the floor and ceiling, allowing him entry. Usually, these types of doors were at the end of whatever facility he was going through, meaning at the very least he was close to the end.

He walked into the tall dark room, nothing of importance seemed to be here at all. The room was a dim blue color completely devoid of any sign of life. Suddenly, the door completely snapped shut. Mega Man jumped back in shock before bolting back for the door. He banged on it and even attempted to shoot at it with his arm cannon, but it wasn't budging. He was trapped inside.

Mega Man heard a noise from the other end of the room and whirled around, holding his arm cannon out front of himself out of caution.

A strange spaceship looking device emerged from a hole in the floor, a glass spherical dome overtop a round yellow base, there was no mistake it: This was Wily's escape pod, the Wily Capsule.

Mega Man slowly approached, waiting for something to happen. It was in his nature to fully evaluate what the opponent would do before taking any action, and today he couldn't take any chances. His armor switched into red coloring once more as he continued hiss advance, slowly lowering his arm as he did so. Nothing had happened, and as it seemed, nothing _would_ happen.

Suddenly, bright flashes of white began to flash from the center of the capsule. Mega Man shot towards the ceiling, but instead of his usual cannon fire, it was a wire with a claw attached to the end. It buried itself into the ceiling and began to retract, narrowly pulling the blue robot over a flash of lasers fired from the strange capsule. The capsule took off after the airbound Mega Man. Mega Man's armor changed color once again to yellow and a tinge of bronze as the wire hook disappeared in a mess of pixels and he began to free fall towards the small pod.

A metal saw blade appeared in Mega Man's hand as he tossed it down at his opponent, hitting one of the back engines on the capsule and sending it spiraling down towards the ground. Mega Man changed back into the red and white colors once more, shooting his wire hook towards the ground near where the capsule was set to impact and using the device to pull himself down passed it before it could crash. As he landed, he changed color one more time into a brown and white color scheme, successfully catching the flying device with one single arm, holding it above his head with relative ease.

He sat the capsule down and pried underneath the glass lid, flipping it off the device entirely with relative ease. Switching back to his natural blue colors, he hopped up onto the rim of the capsule with his arm cannon pointed to the person inside if it.

"Wily! I won't let you hurt-" Mega Man began to speak before noticing something off. The person inside was noticeably _not_ the Dr. Wily he knew. Dr. Wily was a balding short old man with a large gray mustache and hair that fringed out to the sides to an extreme degree.

This man however, appeared to be a tall young man in his 30's at the most with extremely long red hair that followed down to the middle of his back before parting into fringes, largely obscuring his white lab coat underneath. The most bizarre thing about him is that he appeared to be… grovelling? His knees were tucked under his body, uncomfortably scrunched by the chair beneath him and his hand was slammed against the control panel as he bobbed his head up and down, whimpering and asking for mercy. If it wasn't for the shock of this not being who he was expecting, Mega Man would probably find some odd humor in this bizarre display.

"P-please don't hurt me! I don't want any trouble!" The man begged.

"Who are you!?" Mega Man asked demandingly.

Suddenly, the man completely stopped his formerly erratic bowing motion, an eerie silence taking hold of the room. Without lifting up his head or pushing up with his arms, he rose to his feet, placing his height above Mega Man.

He finally lifted his face to lock eyes with the blue robot, revealing a chilling sight. A part of his face was largely missing, revealing and unnatural mesh of organic and inorganic parts. What should have been the whites of his eyes were instead an empty black, and bright red appeared to shine through his eyes from the back of them, almost as if it was emanating from his skull.

"Can't you tell?" he said in a terrifyingly emotionless tone, deeply contrasting his former facade.

" _Mega Man? What's going on? You only have ten minutes before Arcadia City is destroyed!"_ Dr. Light panicked through transmission. Mega Man attempted to back away from the disturbing man so he could get out of there and contact Light, but before he could move a muscle he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to be met with a horrifying sight: In his daze, the man had effortlessly stabbed Mega Man with a previously concealed blade.

Mega Man returned his gaze to the man again, the life visibly leaving his face as they locked eyes.

A twisted and haunting smile found its way across the man's lips as he twisted the blade within Mega Man to add to the young robot's suffering.

"I'm Dr. Wily." he spoke calmly as he slowly removed the blade from Mega Man. Before Mega Man could react further, he gashed the robot's face, causing him to fall over, destroyed.

One last time, Mega Man's communications device sounded as Light made a futile attempt to contact him once more.

" _...Rock?"_


	2. 70 Years Later

**70 Years Later**

The day Mega Man died was a day of drastic change. Wily successfully destroyed Arcadia City, though the majority of the populace was safe from the blast. Wily managed to start a massive war with his new resources now that Mega Man was out of the picture, no one could stand in the way of his pursuit of destruction.

Until the day the reploids appeared.

Reploids, or replication androids, were the largest advancement in the world of robotics. Robots were able to emulate emotion, sure, but their purpose and judgement were largely pre-programmed to fulfill whatever job they were given. Be it Roll's housekeeping duties or Guts Man's assistance in construction, their roles and emotions were decided for them, they had no true free will.

Reploids, on the contrary, were designed to _truly_ emote, allowing them to make decisions for themselves and become far more adaptable than the typical robot. This resulted in the Four Guardians: known as the first true reploids, they were designed by a former aide of Dr. Light named Dr. Cain, who built them in the hopes of overwhelming Wily and winning the battle against him. And while the majority of them were lost, they were successful in defeating him and ending the war.

In the 70 years since the destruction of Arcadia City, reploids have become mass produced and have nearly completely replaced robots. Over the remains of Arcadia City, an advanced metropolis named Neo Arcadia was built. Its governing leader being one of the original Four Guardians, Sage Harpuia.

It's here where Dr. Cain's research on advancing reploids continues to grow. It's also here where a group of hunters have gathered to form an organization against a new, unfamiliar force that threatens to destroy the reploids from within their own selves…

 **Abandoned laboratory, Abel City. 9:37 PM**

There was no way around it, he was officially cornered. Surrounded on all sides by heartless machines, he could only gun down so many before he would be overwhelmed. Instead of panicking, however, his face contorted into a cocky grin. He twirled twin pistols in his hand for the sake of showing off (as he so loved to do) before gunning down 5 Reploids in front of him. However, one had grabbed him from behind while he was turned.

"Hey! No grappling!" the now ensnared individual said has he flailed around helplessly in the machine's arms. He was an orange haired individual with a scar crisscrossing above his nose wearing sleek black and gray armor over his body, with a peculiar glass like blue sphere placed on the chestplate.

He tried to wiggle out but only managed to fumble and drop his weapons on the floor. He cursed he under his breath as the opposing reploid's grip tightened, with the others beginning to approach maliciously.

Suddenly, a shot rang out landing behind the young reploid's head and singing his hair. He fell limp and turned to notice a clean hole shot through the head of the enemy that had grappled him. He clumsily gathered his guns and excitedly readied himself to re-enter the battle, but his his hopes were dashed as in one clean stroke all but two of the reploids' bodies were sliced in half by a new arrival on the scene: a red and white armored reploid with a long blond ponytail emerging from his sleek red helmet, a stoic and emotionless face barely even looking at what he was cutting through with his green sword that seemed to not be made of anything but plasma. He impaled one more in the head and used the stabbed reploid as a shield against the other enemy's laser shots, before converting his free hand into a cannon to shoot and destroy the final enemy reploid.

"You're only good at this because of that sword. If _I_ had a plasma sword I could do that faster." The younger reploid complained as he quietly stood up in defeat. "Speaking of, when can I get a plasma sword?"

"You'll get one when you stop cutting yourself with them." The stoic reploid replied.

"One time…" The spiky haired one moped under his breath.

"Found him yet?" the red one asked.

"Uh, no… But I've racked up a pretty high kill count so that counts for something, right Zero?" he added to cover up his current failure to find what they're looking for.

"Axl, you're the only one who cares about body count. Try to remember that this is a _search and rescue_ mission." the reploid named Zero chided.

"Come on, we're _maverick hunters,_ Zero. Gunning down evil reploids is in the job description." Axl noted with a shrug at Zero's indifference.

" _Infected_ reploids." Zero corrected as he sheathed his sword.

"Same difference, yeah?" Axl replied nonchalantly as he rested his arms behind his head. Zero simply sighed in annoyance before proceeding on with his mission.

The two proceeding through the abandoned facility together until Zero stopped in his tracks. He sighed briefly before touching the side of his helmet to patch through the person calling him. "What is it?"

" _I-uh… It's Iris here. Just here to check on your status."_ a young girl shyly said over the communicator in Zero's helmet.

"I'm fine." Zero said irritably. Zero wasn't one for small talk during missions, and a brief status update certainly qualified as this to him. "Is that all?"

" _No! I mean, um… I think I've figured out where the stranded reploid is."_ She added hastily.

"Really? Where!?" Axl shouted into the side of Zero's face, earning an annoyed swat from the other.

"Quit doing that she can't hear _you_." Zero barked in aggravation, causing Axl to flinch away slightly.

Zero sighed. "Where is he?"

" _Um… From here, go left down the hall and then… No… Hm."_ Iris paused.

"Hm?" Zero questioned.

" _It's a little complicated. You're going to have to find a way downstairs, but I don't see any ways down…"_ she replied, confusion evident in her tone as she tried to wrap her head around the floor layout.

"Well then what're we supposed to do, blow the floor open!?" Axl shouted into Zero's ear as he brushed uncomfortably close into the other reploid's personal space, earning an annoyed shove in response.

"Axl wants to know if we can blow open a hole to the bottom floor by force." Zero asked on Axl's behalf.

" _I don't think so… the floor's made of some pretty strong steel…"_ Iris noted. Zero shook his head at the now distanced Axl, confirming that wasn't an option, earning a frown from the younger reploid.

"I'll figure something out." Zero stated.

" _We'll_ figure something out." Axl corrected as he approached closer to Zero so he could hear Iris again, backing away once more after earning an agitated glare from the older reploid.

" _Okay. Let me know if I can help with anything. And don't get too reckless, okay guys?"_ Iris responded.

"Will do." Zero said before touching the side of his helmet again, severing the connection.

"Alright, let's get this treasure hunt going!" Axl proclaimed as he began to strut down the corridor to their right.

"She said to go left." Zero corrected the oblivious Axl as the he went the opposite direction, being quickly followed behind by his confused partner.

"Right!" Axl shouted after the red machine ahead of him.

The two explored every door throughout the suspiciously maverick free hallway in their search for some sort of entrance. While there wasn't anything resembling a doorway in one of the rooms Axl found, he _did_ find something of interest.

"A crate!" Axl excitedly announced as he looked into the room, which, besides the metallic container Axl brought up, was empty and dim looking.

"...What about it?" Zero asked as he caught up to the younger reploid.

"Crates always have something cool in them." Axl informed Zero.

"This isn't a game, Axl, crates don't house any powerups." Zero said dismissively as he continued investigating further.

...That is, until he heard a round of shots being fired behind him. He raced back to where Axl was to see him bombarding the crate with gunfire.

"What are you doing!?" Zero furiously exclaimed. "Do you want the entire maverick army to know we're here!?"

Suddenly, the crate burst open and the spare parts scattered across the room. Axl reached inside the remains and took a strange glass container from within. This container is known as a sub tank, which is filled with extra fuel to restock reploids that are low on energy.

"See?" Axl said as he flashed his new find to Zero.

"...Well then." Zero responded blankly at being so blatantly proven wrong.

Axl noticed something underneath the crate's bottom half and scooched it away with his foot to reveal- cracks in the floor? The floor didn't quite seem to be metal here, either...

"Hey, yo, the floor here doesn't look like the rest of the floor. It looks weaker." Axl noted.

"You sure?" Zero asked in response.

Axl shrugged and stepped on top of it, jumping up and down to see if anything would happen to the supposedly weaker floor. He suddenly let out a loud "Eep!" as he fell through the floor to the area below, causing Zero to race over out of concern.

"Well I'm sure _now._ " Axl said agitatedly as he rolled over onto his side to get up, wincing slightly from the impact.

"Aww, my sub tank's busted." Axl noticed as he witnessed the spilled fluids and broken glass on the floor.

"Shame." Zero said dryly as he cautiously hopped down to the room below.

He helped Axl back up onto his feet before the two began to look around the room together.

Axl noticed a strange rectangular lining in the wall that looked out of place with the rest of the structure and lightly pushed on it, causing it to collapse and disperse large amounts of dust.

"What did you break?" Zero responded to the noise until he turned to see Axl entering a new hole in the wall. He sighed and followed after him into the room, noticing Axl standing over a bizarre egg shaped capsule with a computer monitor beside it running some sort of data through it.

"I uh… found 'im." Axl spoke, slight surprise evident in his tone. Zero approached the egg shaped machine and peered inside-witnessing the blue comatose reploid with a prominent red gem mounted on his equally blue helmet.

"Iris, this is Zero. We've successfully found X." Zero informed the young girl as Axl began trying to pry the capsule open.

" _He's real!? I...That's great!"_ Iris exclaimed. _"Bring him outside the facility so we can transport you three back."_

"Easier said than done, But I'm sure we'll manage." Zero said before severing his connection once more.

Axl shot at the bottom of the lid of the capsule approximately twenty times with it not budging an ounce. He groaned aggravatedly before Zero simply picked up the capsule lid from the bottom and lifted it up with ease.

"...I loosened it for you?" Axl said almost as if it was a question as Zero rolled his eyes and began to disconnect the wiring in X's back that connected him to the machine.

Zero placed one of the unconscious reploid's arms around his shoulder. He waited, staring at Axl, who was busy looking at the computer screen off to the side.

"Mind giving me a hand?" Zero asked in an annoyed tone, causing Axl to take notice of what Zero was doing and hastily sling X's other arm over his shoulders as well.

The two had difficulty getting him out the same way they came, until Axl carelessly tossed him through the hole, earning a frustrated glare from Zero. Axl nervously shrugged as the two leaped up and grabbed onto the small ledges created by Axl earlier and hoisted themselves up onto the ground floor.

They picked back up X without a word and carried on through the empty hall.

Their exit mission was going far smoother than their retrieval mission, Zero believed this to be due in large part to Axl being unable to wander around and pick fights with every maverick he found.

However, their lucky streak was broken when Zero was shot in the side, causing him to keel over and causing Axl to lose his grip on X, who promptly fell on top of Zero.

"Whoops, sorry." Axl said awkwardly as he noticed the pile of reploids on the floor before turning his attention to the mavericks in front of him. They were a team of five purple human like machines, with the fifth hosting a large sharp plasma shield used for close range combat and the rest armed with arm cannons aimed at the hunters.

Axl smiled widely with a cocky grin as he slowly pulled out his guns. He rolled to the left to avoid the oncoming fire before shooting a special bullet at the one with the plasma shield, sticking into the machine and shorting it out.

" _Scan complete."_ a synthetic voice announced through Axl's communication system.

"Perfect." Axl responded. Suddenly, Axl was encased in rings of purple data, that shrunk around him until his form shifted into the purple enemy he had just shot.

"I've got my plasma sword now." Axl teased as he flashed the sharp shield at Zero, who just rolled his eyes.

"Just finish them off…" Zero complained.

Axl shrugged before he ran forward, shield up front blocking each shot until he was up close to the enemies. He stabbed one with the shield then moved the shield to block a shot from the next closest one. He ripped the shield off the freshly stabbed one and slung it into the next closest. The others began to shoot at him and he was in no position to block with the shield. He rolled over to the right, rolling over the enemy stuck on his shield and removing it from the machine in one fluid motion. As he completed his roll he shifted back to his normal form, finishing off the remaining two with his headshots from his twin pistols.

After a moment of silence he looked to Zero. "Finished them off." He smiled cockily.

"...Your technique needs work." Zero replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Axl dryly responded as he lifted X off of Zero. Zero stood up with decent effort and the two made it through the rest of the base, albeit slowly on account of Zero's injuries.

Upon exiting the facility Zero contacted Iris once more.

"We're out of the facility. Transport us back." He spoke.

" _Got it! Preparing the transport now."_

And with that, the mission was a success.


	3. The Maverick Virus

**The Maverick Virus**

In an instant, Zero and Axl, with X in tote, appeared in a flash of light in a sleek research facility, standing on a glowing blue platform. The room was very high tech, the walls were solid steel, and there was a control panel to the right being operated by a brown haired girl with a sleek blue visor obscuring her eyes and a green dress.

The woman cleared her throat and pressed a button on her control panel, and with a proud smirk began her announcement. "Agents Zero and Axl have returned, with the legen-" She began with a haughty tone to her voice, chest puffed out, but was quickly silenced by the shuttering of automatic doors opening at the end of the room.

The person on the other side of the now open door was a young woman with blonde hair, adorned with a lab coat over a flashy pink dress and a matching pink helmet.

"...Dary…. X in tow." The brown haired girl finished. "Sure, just barge in during the moment I've been waiting my whole life for, I don't care." She silently pouted as she slunk back into her seat, arms crossed.

The other girl, however, didn't seem to pick up on what the woman at the control panel was saying, and instead smiled warmly at the two reploids and their unconscious find.

"Glad to see you made it back alright, Zero!" She beamed as she approached the duo.

"Wh-Hey!" Axl protested, throwing his hands up and almost causing X to fall over before the girl in the lab coat managed to catch the unconscious machine.

She turned her head up to face the spiky haired reploid after ensuring the two had a grip on X again. "You too, Axl." She said almost teasingly, but it seemed to escape Axl's notice as he adorned a smug look on his face upon hearing the words.

"That's more like it." He boasted triumphantly.

The girl giggled under her breath while she inspected X's face. "Let's get him over to my lab, shall we?"

 _ **~Maverick Hunter HQ: Ciel's Lab~**_

The walls were a brilliant white color, matching the intensity of the sun's rays. The floor pristine and reflective, a blue tinted glass surface mirroring the perfect conditions resting above it.  
...Perfect conditions if one were to discount the excessive amount of soda cans and food boxes splayed across the floor haphazardly.

"You've holed yourself up in your office again, I see." Zero remarked as he examined the mess, but the girl paid him no mind as she absentmindedly connected wires to the sockets in X's exposed head.

"Mhm, yeah, been in the middle of some big breakthroughs, couldn't afford wasting time outside." She replied passively as she continued to focus on her task at hand, not even casting an aside glance to the other reploids in her room.

"It looks more like you were having a big break _down_ to me, Ciel…" Axl noted as he kicked a can away with his foot out of boredom.

"Mhm…" Ciel mumbled as she began to move down to X's arms, gently pulling at the armor to expose the inner ports so she could continue wiring him.

Axl leaned in close to Zero and began whispering into his ear. "Hey, this is getting really super kind of uncomfortable so like, can we just go..?"

"Stop breathing on me." Zero groaned as he slapped Axl's face away dismissively with the back of his hand.

"Pssh, we're reploids, we don't breathe-...Uh, Ciel?" Axl diverted his attention to the young girl once again.

"Mhm?" She mumbled again.

"...Do reploids breathe?" Axl asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly out of embarrassment for having to ask such a trivial question.

"Mm, yeah, Reploids are basically human, you breathe." She stated as she placed one foot on X's stomach for leverage, before tearing off his chest plate and throwing it on the floor beside her.

"Oh, so I guess that's what that is…" Axl responded as he placed his hand inches from his mouth and started huffing to see if he could feel his breath, earning a derisive scoff from Zero.

"I'm taking a walk." Zero groaned as he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room, rubbing the bridge of his nose and holding his head towards the ceiling as he left.

Axl stood in silence as she began alternating between adjusting the wiring on X's chest and moving to a nearby computer to ensure the cables were hooked up to the reploid correctly, unnoticing that an occupant of the room had even left.

"I-I'll just, eh… Yeah." Axl stammered before hastily retreating, leaving an unaware Ciel by herself.

 _ **~Maverick Hunter HQ: Main Hallway~**_

Zero was leaning against a wall, eyes shut and sighing. He wasn't the type to typically engage in relaxing, but he was quite thankful to have a moment to stop thinking after the frantic day he just experienced.

His silence, however, was interrupted by the voice of a petite girl. He opened his eyes slowly and lowered his head to meet the eyes of a brown haired girl wearing a red beret and a large, poofy red and blue armor styled like a dress.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm bothering you, Aren't I?" The girl, whos voice was that of Iris, spoke softly as she averted her eyes away from the taller reploid.

"I was just resting my eyes, you weren't interrupting me or anything." Zero assured her.

"That's good…" She trailed off. Her vision began to daze off before she quickly shook her head and addressed Zero again. "Oh! Right! You aren't hurt or anything, are you? Cinnamon at the infirmary can patch up just about anything, you know!"

"I'll be fine, it was just a simple search and rescue mission. Or would've been if it wasn't for…" Zero's words escaped him as he heard a shrill voice calling out for him further down the hallway.  
"...Drat."

"G'evening Iris!" Axl chimed as he joined the duo in the middle of the hallway. "You really need to fix those earpieces so I can talk to you through 'em, y'know?"

"Does yours not work?" Iris asked as she approached Axl, touching the sides of his face to inspect where his earpieces should be.

"Uh, yeah I uh, kinda broke them messing around with a uh, sound system." Axl mumbled as he stared at the floor, too embarrassed to say that while looking the young girl in the eyes.

"Oh, poor guy… Ah, um, let's get you down to the infirmary then and see if they can fix that up, okay?" Iris suggested as she took Axl's hand and began to lead him away.

"Not so fast." Zero chimed in as he grabbed Axl's free hand, pulling a shocked Iris back slightly along with him.

"I need to discuss some matters with my partner for a moment. He can meet you there later." Zero informed the girl.

"Right, right… Sorry." She released Axl and nodded to the two slightly before walking down the hall by herself, hands crossed behind her back.

"Am I finally getting that thank you I've deserved for oh so long?" Axl grinned at his partner. Axl however, didn't expect Zero to kick in his hind leg and throw him into a sitting position on the floor.

Zero then proceeded to step in front of the reploid and squat down to be close to eye level with him. "What you're getting is a scolding."

"Bummer." Axl snarked as he gave the poutiest glare he could muster in response.

"That 'kill count' talk? That's not going to fly around here." Zero began.

Axl closed his eyes and folded his arms behind his head, leaning back against the wall and dismissively responding. "I don't see what's so wrong about having a little fun in my job."

"What's _wrong_ is treating these infected reploids like they're some sort of score in a video game. For all you know, every last one of those mavericks you slaughtered earlier were no different than you and I before that virus got to them." Zero's lecture continued.

"Oh? That 'Maverick Virus' jargon again? Tch." Axl opened one eye smugly as he spoke. "We're not robots like in the days of Wily, we're _Reploids_. It's like Ciel said, we're basically human. Humans don't get evil mind control viruses, and I don't think we're capable of getting one. It makes them more _prone_ to violence, sure, but they're just terrorists, plain and simple."

Zero scoffed as he sat back up from his crouched position. "Whatever. Just quit treating this like a damn game, amateur."

"You're welcome!" Axl teased as he watched the older reploid walk away. "Jerk…"

 _ **~Ciel's Lab-That Night~**_

At night, the walls Ciel's lab changes from it's bright ivory hues to the dark blues of the night sky, the room looking as though it's floating in space. Ciel's helmet was cast aside next to her feet as she rested in a chair propped next to her workbench, head resting on the comatose reploid's body as snores filled the room.

Light burst into the dim room as the automatic doors darted open, revealing an old man in a blue coat. He was bald, the only hair on his head being a rather long beard, and was leaning against a walking stick, too frail to hold himself up on his own. He approached the young researcher and shook her shoulder, trying to wake her from her rest.

Ciel muttered something incoherent before opening her eyes, sighing into the machine she had fallen asleep on.

Slowly, she lifted her head and tiredly looked up at the old man. "Hi, grampa Cain…" She mumbled.

"Ciel, what are you doing in the research facility this late? You really should be in bed by now…" The old doctor stated.

"For right now, this _is_ my bedroom. I'll go back to my room when I've finished my research." She spoke dismissively, shrugging his hand off her shoulder.

"Don't tell me… You haven't been sleeping in here this entire week have you?" He responded, concern evident in his voice.

"The past _couple_ weeks." She corrected, scanning X's body to recall where she last left off.

"Ciel…" Dr. Cain muttered under his breath.

"It's just… I have a theory." Ciel spoke, resuming the last steps of her wiring. "The maverick virus, we both know it's real, yeah? We've seen the data, and while it's hard to prove exactly what's going on in their heads, we know these mavericks have something wrong with their internal cognition"

"But… what does this reploid have to do with the virus?" Dr. Cain questioned.

"As the story goes, X was the prototype of the reploids. Different from the guardians that came after him. The maverick virus is something that can infect any and every reploid based on the guardians' design, stripping them of their morals and degrading their mind. My theory, no, _hope_ is that X's cognition proves to be different. That analyzing how his mind ticks can help me figure out what can be adjusted to help prevent spread of the disease in newer reploids."

"You sought after a myth for the sake of proving a theory, hmm? Quite like you." Dr. Cain chuckled softly.

"I could be wrong, easily. He could have the exact same mental faculties, or worse, lack them. But it's not like the government's very willing to fund us now that we're actively supporting the maverick hunters, so…" She trailed off. "We'll know in a couple hours whether or not I'm onto something, I think…"

Dr. Cain sighed. "I know this is hard, Ciel. To be treated like we're outlaws because of those mercenaries out there misusing the title of hunter. But you can't continue to hurt yourself like this. Please, just get some sleep for now. Your breakthrough can wait for tomorrow."

Ciel glanced over X's body as she thought, before returning Dr. Cain's gaze. "I guess… G'night, grampa." She groggily slumped towards the door, exiting the room. Dr. Cain was the only one left, examining the machine in front of him. He simply sighed and followed his granddaughter out.

 _ **~Maverick Hunter HQ: Mission Control~**_

Alarms were blaring throughout the entire headquarters as Zero and Axl burst into the expansive mission control room.

"What's the situation!?" Zero demanded of the brown haired mission control operator.

"Terrorist attack at Legion Headquarters, mavericks suspected to be involved!" She stated hastily, typing away at her control panel to input coordinates. "We don't really have time for mission assessment, Iris will fill you in when you arrive!"

"Got it!" The two reploids stated as they darted for the blue teleporter pad.

"Ohhh, this is gonna be fun." Axl beamed as Zero impatiently rolled his eyes.

Without another word, the two vanished into thin air, off to their next assignment.


	4. The Advent Children

**The Advent Children**

Fire across the sky. Metallic airships incinerating from the inside out as they fell to the ground below, destroying the earth beneath them as their impacts left craters across the land. A woman stood on the deck of the last standing airship, distressed as she witnessed the entire fleet crash below. She was so close to her objective, but alas, she would be making no escape now. Her mind on autopilot, she shifted focus back to getting what she came here for. She spun on her heels, facing towards the entrance to the ship, when there it stood. Death, scythe in tow.

Death taunted her, speaking things she could no longer clearly hear, as she fell to the ground. The hull of the last airship had begun to burst as well. Within seconds, the smoke had found its way to the deck. She could no longer breathe properly, she could no longer see properly, and she could no longer feel properly. Death approached, dragging its scythe across the ground as it advanced towards her. Her head started feeling lighter and lighter, from a mixture of the smoke inhalation and the sudden loss of altitude. She felt her entire body flung skyward as the ship crashed, landing against the hard steel and finally giving in to death's call, closing her eyes.

 _ **~Unknown Location~**_

"This is the second body that's washed up around here as of late! Do you think maybe those mavericks everyone keeps talkin' about are starting to get around these parts?" Someone asked off in the distance as the young girl's hearing began to come back.

"Bah, "maverick" is just a term those extremists use to label reploids they don't like. The real problem is what those airships were doing over the no-fly zone. They were headed straight for Legion, and boss said he found something pretty important among the wreckage…" another voice stated dismissively as she finally opened her eyes. The two men talking seemed exactly the same in every way, same green uniform, same beret, save large goggles obscuring their eyes. The exact same.

"Wha-!" The girl exclaimed, drawing a gun from a holster on her hip.

"Woah-hey! Just calm down!" One of the soldier-like men shouted nervously as the two put their hands in front of them.

"Who _are_ you people?" She asked, her trigger finger twitching anxiously with each word.

"We're bounty hunters. An airship you were on crash landed near our base, so we brought you here to recover." One of the hunters informed her.

"Bounty hunters, huh?" The girl spoke as she lowered her weapon. "I work for the Area Zero bounty team. My name's Ashe."

The girl named Ashe, despite her small frame, had an adventurous spirit shining from within her green eyes. She wore an orange jacket over a blue jumpsuit, and sported a red headband encircling her faded gray hair, tied neatly into a large ponytail.

"Oh, a regional bounty hunter team? Those are the little leagues. Our team here works directly for Legion." The other hunter stated.

"Legion, huh? You're government agents?" She asked as she started to hesitantly sit up. Impressively, aside from the injuries to her head she didn't seem to be noticeably damaged.

"Huh, she knows her name _and_ what Legion is. Already she seems to be better off than that other guy we found, eh?" One of the hunters teased.

"Other guy? Was there another survivor in the wreckage?" She continued to question.

"None that we know of. The guy we're talking about is a reploid that washed up on shore a day or two ago, he doesn't seem to remember much. We call him 'Grey' cause, well, his hair's gray." One of the hunters answered.

"Shoot, no survivors, huh…?" She paused. "If my squad's down, I guess it wouldn't be very safe for me to head back to Area Zero alone."

"Uh-if you're feeling better, I might need to ask a favor of you. If it's no bother, of course." One of the hunters stammered.

"That so?" She responded as she crossed her arms.

"There was something we found on the ship, something Legion wants us to deliver to them. If it's no trouble to you, I could use some extra hands delivering it."

"The treasure's still safe?" Ashe started scratching her chin in thought. "I've got nothing better to do, I guess"

"Alright, thanks. The train station's to the right of here." He beamed as he began to leave.

"Shame I couldn't keep it for myself though…" She mumbled as she followed suit, face twisted into a small pout.

"Whuzzat?" The hunter asked.

"I said let's go."

 _ **~Inbound Train for Legion~**_

Ashe, the hunter, and the young reploid dubbed Grey, all gathered on the back of a freight train headed for Legion Headquarters. The cargo on their area seemed to be missing, allowing them to see the world around them as the train ran its course. The only other thing with them was the crate containing whatever 'treasure' they were delivering to legion, which Ashe was propped against to rest in its shadow.

"Hey, so can I ask a question?" The one known as Grey asked, as he sat, gazing up at the sky absentmindedly. His skin was quite dark in contrast to his spiky hair he was named after, and he seemed to feature prominent red fang-like markings from his chin up to his cheeks, alongside the red upside-down triangle present on all reploids' head. His armor was a mixture of orange, red, and an indigo shade of blue, with large red plug styled cords sticking out of the back of the armor's collar.

"Go ahead, you of all people need some answers." The hunter chuckled.

"So this… Legion, right? They're the entire world's government, right? How does that work, giving just three people that much control?"

"I wouldn't know. If I was stuck deciding things for the world with three friends we'd never get anything done. I guess they're just really good politicians." The hunter mused.  
His train of thought seemed to break as he turned towards Ashe. "Oh, right! Hey, Ms., uh, Ashe?"

"Yeah?" She muttered. She would probably feel insulted for being called 'Ms.' if she had enough energy to care, but she was quite exhausted at the moment.

"Do you by any chance know what this thing is, exactly? You were there where we recovered it, after all."

"'Fraid not. I just heard it was really rare, whatever it is." She shrugged.

" _Just who are you callin' 'it'!?"_ A shrill voice spoke from seemingly nowhere, and quickly following it, Ashe collapsed from intense head pain.

"Hey, you alright!?" Grey called out as he crawled over to her, clutching her arm as she squirmed and groaned in agony.

"Who… Said… that?" She managed to say aloud.

"Who said wha-?" The hunter began, but those would unfortunately be his last words. A scythe found its way through his chest, and in short order the reploid was carved in half as it slashed downward until was dislodged from his body.

His body's collapse revealed the sight of a purple armored man with crazed eyes and a giant scythe, accompanied by a woman hovering above the ground with white armor who seemed contrastingly serene. The purple man's helmet was spike upward and feature a skull motif, while the woman's was angular, with hints of blue and ribbons attached to the coned sides of it.

"Stay down and stay quiet." Grey whispered to Ashe, who was still massaging her head to try and ease the increasing migraine.

Grey lunged over the crate and landed facing these new enemies, chest puffed out in an attempt to make himself look more intimidating than he was.

"Back for round two, lady? See you brought a friend, too." He called out to the alarmingly calm girl.

"We've unfinished business to attend to. Now, allow me to decommission you." Her voice was quiet and deadening to the senses, unnervingly delicate like the movement of a snake. She revealed a spear she was holding behind her back, and twirled it gracefully as she prepared to face Grey in combat.

Without another word, Grey lunged at the man with the scythe and unloaded plasma bullet after plasma bullet at him, but with a simple twirl of the scythe they were all dismissively blocked. A single stroke of the scythe from there sent an energy wave flying towards Grey, who only barely had the time to roll underneath it.

The energy wave travelled all the way across the train, slashing the shipping crate in half. Ashe's head pain began to lessen, as a feeling of beckoning fell over her. Lifting her head above the crate ever so slightly so as not to draw attention, she peered into the box and saw a strange metal device with glowing 'eyes' inside. Without thinking, she took it out hastily and crouched back under her cover. She stared into its shining blue eyes, seeing that the front of it resembled a red and silver mask, with a purple 'V' shape surrounding it.

" _Free at last! Ugh, it was so stuffy in there."_ Complained the voice in Ashe's head, which she began to realize was coming from the device.

"You can talk?" Whispered Ashe, clutching the strange gizmo firmly in her hands.

" _Yep! I can do even more than that, too. From the sounds of things we're in some sort of battle. Wanna high tail it outta here?"_ The device asked.

"I… Yeah, sure!" She answered.

" _Alright. Hold me up to the sky and shout 'Mega-Merge'! Might wanna stand up for this too."_ The device instructed.

"Joy." Ashe responded sarcastically as she stood up to view the fight for the first time. Grey seemed to be hurt, pinned down by the sadistic man with the scythe, whom Ashe froze upon witnessing. It was the same man from the airship, who turned his full attention to Ashe as she stood up.

"Looks like both our targets came running to us, Pandora. How convenient." The purple man taunted.

"Should I dispatch that one, Prometheus?" Pandora asked as she gently twirled her staff.

"She's human, probably not even worth the effort. I'm not stopping you, though." Prometheus shrugged.

" _That guy's got some ego! Let's knock him down a peg or two!"_ The device suggested.

"You got it." Ashe responded. She raised the device, clutched firmly in her fist, skyward, and proceeded to do as instructed. "Mega-Merge!"

A light erupted into the sky above as the voice of the machine filled the surrounding area.

" _Biolink established! M.E.G.A. system online!"_

Ashe became completely enveloped in the light, her barely visible form shifting shape in front of the onlookers. As the light faded, Ashe was revealed to have armor of crimson, gray, and purple hues. Her new helmet had a bolt on the front, and red fins starting from the middle of the helmet and protruding out, ending with yellow spikes. In her hands were twin energy pistols, which she promptly pointed at Prometheus and Pandora.

"I could get used to this power." Ashe smirked. She shot at Pandora, who attempted to block with her staff, but the force of impact knocked her onto the ground below. "Both of you stand down now, or I'm ending you here!" She threatened.

"Bahaha, like I care." Prometheus smirked. "Do your worst, I'll relish in severing that head from your body."

"Just hurry up and off 'em!" Grey complained as his head was crushed against the train by Prometheus' foot.

"One more word, kid, and I bust that head right now." Prometheus taunted.

"Prometheus, wait." Pandora commanded. "She has a biometal. She's a competitor in his game now."

Prometheus examined Ashe's armor from a distance, grinning eerily as his eyes lingered across her frame. "So she is."

"I'm not playing any games! Give up the kid and no one gets hurt!" Ashe demanded.

"Very well. There's no competition if you sprain a leg before the gunfire, after all." Prometheus conceded as he kicked Grey towards Ashe with little effort. "You're a player in the game of destiny now. I'll savor ravaging you next time we meet, but for now, consider this a head start."

"What do you even mean 'game of destiny'? What are you going on about...?" Ashe asked hesitantly, her curiosity piqued.

"Mhmm, I could tell you or I could just leave you for the buzzards. It'd make them easier to hunt for myself later." Prometheus teased.

"Would you come off it and just tell me!?" Her trigger finger began to itch again as she barked her response.

Pandora floated back up into the air and placed herself next to her associate. "It would be more interesting if we gave her a clue as to what's coming, wouldn't it brother? We could see what she's really made of."  
Prometheus cast an aside glance to Pandora and smirked. "Agreed. It would be so satisfying to watch the prey squirm for life, knowing it's end is coming."

He returned his gaze to Ashe, eyes practically piercing her as his maddened gaze shifted its sight up her body once again. "The game of destiny is a fight between people like us, wielders of a material known as Biometal. That armor you have there? That… Is the power to rule the world. More like us are out there. They want to kill you. They will try to. They'll all fail, because you're _my_ prey now. When I decide your head start is over, there is nowhere you can run I won't find you. Whoever wins gains the power to rule the world, and I won't be giving that up. You know the lion's out there in the grass, but try to savor these last moments before I pounce."

"Aptly put, Prometheus." Pandora smirked. "Let us get going." The two stood side by side as they disappeared in a beam of light.

"Wait!" Ashe shouted, but they were already gone.

The two were left alone on the train, nothing else on board but the hunter's body behind them. The sound of the train moving along the tracks and their breathing were the only sounds to fill the air for seconds that felt like forever. Finally, Grey felt inclined to speak up.

"A-all I got out of that was something about lions…"

"It doesn't make any sense!" Ashe complained as she threw her hands up in frustration. "What other 'biometal users'!? And the power to rule the _world?_ He sounds insane."

" _I don't know, but I say we cut our losses and find a way to avoid him."_ The biometal suggested.

"Forget that! I'm not letting someone like that stay on the loose in the world! I'm taking him down." Ashe retorted.

"I-isn't that a little dangerous to go challenging someone like that?" Grey hesitantly responded.

"I'm sure with this armor I can take him on, no problem." She stated as she pridefully crossed her arms.

" _Ohhh, no no no. I'm not helping you take down that madman, no ma'am!"_ The biometal complained.

"Not backing out now! You got me into this mess and you're getting me out of it!" Ashe snapped back.

"Wh-But I didn't say anything…" Grey whimpered.

"I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the-!" Ashe began, before something caught her eye. Giant robotic wasps filled the skies around the train, all headed in the same direction. She turned to look at where they were going and saw a horrifying sight. A giant tower, reaching into the clouds, in flames. These machines were destroying Legion Headquarters.

"Grey… I hope you didn't break your gun fighting Prometheus." Ashe stated, voice shaking slightly as she gripped her pistols tightly.

"Why's that..?" Grey responded as he sat back up on his feet, tracing Ashe's vision to find his eyes resting upon the same terrifying sight.

"I think you're gonna need it."


	5. Bullet Drive

**Bullet Drive**

The train reached its final stop. Instead of being greeted by guard members, ready to pick up the delivery they were tasked with bringing, they were instead met by corpses. Reploids parts reduced to clawed open husks, their last terrified sight etched into the fear stuck on their faces.

"Do you think this was done by Prometheus..?" Grey asked as he looked down at the destroyed reploids.

"He promised he'd back off, I don't think he'd head here next. It might be one of those other competitors he was talking about." Ashe mused.

" _C-Can we please leave now..?"_ the biometal asked.

"Absolutely not. We're helping these people no matter what." Ashe protested.

"Why do you keep talking to me like I'm saying something? Y-you can't read my mind, right?" Grey whimpered.

Ashe sighed. "Would you believe me if I told you this suit's speaking to me telepathically?"  
There was a pause as Grey scratched his chin in thought before returning his gaze to Ashe's. "Uh-huh."

 _ **~Legion Headquarters: Rooftops~**_

From a flash of light emerged Zero and Axl, stepping into a twisted scene of fire and debris. The entire complex was set ablaze, with many buildings of the expansive headquarters on fire or toppling over. Mechaniloids and maverick reploids alike were surrounded every other building, bombing them and bringing them down with ease.

"Welp, we're understaffed." Axl observed.

Zero pressed the side of his helmet, initiation comms with Iris. "You seeing this?"

"All too well. This looks really risky, guys. You should pull back and let Repliforce handle this."

"Repliforce? Pssh. We'll figure it out, no problem. And we'll do it _without_ those stuck up Neo Arcadian pawns." Axl scoffed.

"This isn't some sort of joke, Axl, this is your lives at stake." Iris replied, uncharacteristically stern.

"And this is the entire headquarters' lives at stake if we don't act. Call in Repliforce, but we're evacuating who we can until then." Zero chimed in.

"R-right…" Iris conceded meekly. "Strangely, it seems like the sage trinity's building hasn't been bombed yet. It's that big tower in the middle of the complex. You can't save everyone in every building, so prioritize the big targets until help arrives."

"Roger." Zero responded as he ended his comm connection. He turned to check on his partner, only to find Axl smiling an aggravating grin from ear to ear.

"What now?" Zero groaned.

"You stuck up for me." Axl chimed.

Zero slammed his hand against his face and defeatedly sighed. "Tell anyone, and I break those comm systems into so many fragments, that not even Ciel can restore it."

"Hee, gotcha." Axl chuckled. The two turned their attention to the center of the complex, a large tower shaped like a spire, which, as Iris noted, was conspicuously untouched. Their new objective laid out, the duo took their first steps towards this rescue mission.

 _ **~Legion Tower: Inside~**_

Ashe and Grey searched through the quiet halls of the first floor until they finally stumbled upon an elevator, which upon the press of a button seemed to be fully functioning.

"Should we really be taking an elevator during a time like this? They usually shut off if there's a fire or something…" Grey noted.

"It's the fastest way up, and if there's trouble on the upper floors we need to get there as soon as possible. I'm willing to take my chances." Ashe responded as the doors slid open, revealing the solid white floor and mirror walls of the elevator's insides.

They entered and Ashe pressed the button for the highest floor, assuming that to be the most logical choice for a starting point.

The doors shut in front of them, revealing itself to be just as reflective as the rest of the small elevator. One could infer this was to decrease claustrophobia, but due to the shape of the facility it was only currently serving to increase the unease, as evidenced by the uncomfortable gaze in Grey's face that was staring back at him.

"So what exactly are we doing?" Grey asked as he inspected the other reflections of himself.

"We go to the top floor and meet up with the sage trinity to make sure they're safe. From there, uh… Working on that part." Ashe responded hesitantly.

" _You don't have the first idea how to do this hero stuff do you? Should've just bailed when we had the chance, at least then we'd be able to live…"_ The biometal chided.

"Shut up, I said I'm working on it!" Ashe barked.

"If you're going to keep fighting with your suit, can you at least give it a name? I keep feeling like you're yelling at me…" Grey suggested as he rubbed his forearm uncomfortably.

"Oh, I don't guess I ever thought it had a name…" Ashe pondered aloud. "Well, do you? Or is it just 'biometal'?"  
 _"Finally, you ask. How rude to wait so long."_ The armor chided. _"I'm the copy Mega Man, Model A!"_

"Yeah? Well you haven't gotten my name either, 'Model A'... It's Ashe, by the way." Ashe stated.

"Say, how long does this elevator go for..?" Grey thought aloud. He cast a glance at the floor number on the only non-reflective surface in the whole machine, and groaned when he saw they were less than halfway there.

The quiet, agonizing silence was finally broken by a startling disruption. Without warning, the elevator was sent into freefall, the passengers within suspended in the air as it fell.

"The hell's... Happening!?" Grey shouted, the end of his sentence being forced out of his mouth as he collided with the ceiling.

"Someone cut the wire! We're gonna hafta crawl out through the emergency exit on the-" She stated, before inspecting the ceiling to see no such escape hatch existed.

" _We're doomed…"_ Model A groaned, as if more disappointed than frightened. Any such fear that this is where they'd meet their end was rather abruptly shattered as the elevator forcefully ceased it's descent. The duo were slung against the hard floor, before noticing the elevator was still swaying slightly.

"What now..?" Grey grumbled as he found his footing, but was shaken back into a sitting position after the elevator haphazardly jerked.

The violent tugs increased, each time more forceful than the last, as the sound of the elevator scraping against the surrounding outer walls left a horrible echo throughout the chamber.

"We're… Being pulled upwards?" Ashe observed.

"Can one of these bots really do that..?" Grey questioned, finally seeming to find his footing despite the violent motions of the elevator.

"Anything's possible…" Ashe replied as she joined Grey on standing ground. "Make sure your weapon's ready, the second this door opens we're blasting whatever this is to shreds."

Grey nodded as they aimed their weapons directly at the door, guns uncomfortably drawn at their own reflections, as they waited for the violent screeching and grinding of the elevator's ascent to stop.

 _ **~Legion Headquarters: Rooftops~**_

Bursts of light filled the skies as Axl and Zero neared their destination, Gunning down aerial mavericks one by one as they leaped across the rooftops They had just reached a rather compact rooftop near the dizzyingly tall tower, when they were suddenly ambushed.

A round turret-esque Mechaniloid with a propeller keeping it barely hovering afloat over the small rooftop locked in on the duo and began raining energy bullets across the building's surface. The duo split apart and dodged to the sides, with Zero throwing his saber into the robot's side. Distracted, the robot targeted the red maverick hunter, only to be overwhelmed as a swift kick to the back from Axl sent it crashing into the ground. Axl retrieved the sword from its side, and swiftly fired a copy shot into the wrecked machine, allowing his arm to transform into sizeable propeller blades.

"We've got our way over to the tower." Axl teased as he waved the blades in his hand socket around.

"I'm not holding onto you all the way up there, if that's what you're suggesting." Zero protested as he folded his arms defiantly.

"Aww, don't be so pouty-yy…" Axl began, before noticing a rather large wasp maverick lingering behind Zero. "Watch out!"

Zero rolled to the side, just barely dodging a barrage of lasers impacting where he once stood. Using his arm cannon, he shot counterfire at the enemy, but none of the bullets seem to penetrate the wasp's thick hull.

"Dammit, toss me the Z saber!" Zero commanded. However, when he turned his attention to Axl, he noticed the rookie reploid had other plans.

With a rather passionate war cry carrying him forward, Axl dared towards the insectoid behemoth, Z saber in tow. Gunfire pelted the entire arena as Axl dodged each with inhuman precision. A dash left, followed by a roll to the right, a lunge forward, an energy bullet just barely grazing under his chest as he curled into formation to roll forward. Recovering from his somersault, Axl began to notice pesky robotic helpers. These little wasps began firing at him too, and he had no time to simply roll out of the way. Instead, with a quick slash of the sword, he was able to deflect them all in a single spin, returning them to the machines and sending them crashing to the ground as scraps. Hastily, he resumed his assault and sidestepped to dodge one final bullet, before he finally closed the distance. He slid under the machine on his knees, holding the Z saber against the underside of its body to shred a clean line down the middle as his momentum carried him underneath the entirety of its stomach.

His momentum also sent him much further than expected, though, as he was sent haphazardly falling off the side of the roof. "Axl, you idiot!" Zero exclaimed in shock as he watched his partner fall from an absolutely dizzying height. Before Zero could check on the young maverick hunter's falling distance, though, the wasp mechaniloid fell to the floor and exploded, collapsing half the rooftop and knocking zero to his feet.

"I can't believe this…" Zero groaned as he crawled back up to his standing, legs buckling slightly from disorientation.

"Believe what?" A voice asked from behind Zero. Zero was sent back onto the floor in shock at his partner flying above him, propeller hand stretched to the sky and Z saber in tow.

"Wh-Are you kidding me..?" Zero stammered in disbelief.

Axl handed Zero his saber back and offered to pull the veteran hunter up, an offer that was politely met with an annoyed swat at the younger reploid's hand.

"Don't be like that, I just saved your life." Axl griped.

"Whatever." Zero pouted, folding his arms again.

Zero was taken by surprise, however, as Axl's free hand wrapped around the red reploid's waist.

"What the-?" Zero stammered before processing what was happening.

"C'mon, we've gotta get moving." Axl said in a playfully mocking voice as he nudged his superior.

With a groan, Zero wrapped his hands around the younger reploid, and with that, the two took off into the air, their destination fast approaching.

 _ **~Legion Tower: Middle Floor~**_

The elevator creaked, and squealed, and grinded as it's pace began to slow. The duo inferred this to mean they were almost up to where they were being pulled. Ashe's fingers began to fidget with her gun once more, shaking against the steel trigger and ready to fire at any second. They breathed in one last heavy breath, as they waited for the door to open.

...Unfortunately, however, it didn't. The elevator was violently flung, spinning on all sides. Ashe, out of impulse, discharged her weapon, which sent an energy blast ricocheting across the walls until it grazed Grey, who screamed in pain at his side being torn from the bullet.

The two were relentlessly tossed around the innards of the elevator, glass shattering all around them from the impacts, until it finally ended. The two groaned in pain, unable to move and unable to process what was happening. A slight tug informed them it still wasn't over, as the elevator was steadily dragged. It seemed to be on the floor at least, given the direction they were being pulled. A strong pull, followed by a slow and rhythmic drag. This continued for several seconds, until suddenly there was an abrupt stop. Ashe desperately looked around for the door, and when she realized it was now the ceiling, she took aim.  
Five seconds passed, and nothing had happened. Her breathing grew heavy, each heave feeling as though it had flattened her lungs to nothing. Seven, eight… She could feel the beads of sweat forming on her face, distracting her ever so slightly as the sensation began to drive her mad from aggravation. Eleven, twelve… There was no more breathing. Her lungs had stilled and her heart had eased, her shoulders relaxing. Perhaps it simply left? Maybe they were finally clear to leave… Seventeen. The doors were shoved open with a force that shattered whatever glass remained in the entire elevator, as a bionic abomination stood above them. Its head was purple, with a black abyss where the facial features should be, if not for its horrifying red eyes that shined like headlights, making it hard to see the rest of its features. It looked to have metal pincers adorned on its face, and a red scarf tied to its neck. A purple jacket complemented the whites and blacks of the rest of its color scheme, and was accented by yellow arm guards, one of which seemed to have a star shaped plasma weapon adorned on it.

Without hesitating a moment longer, Ashe shot at the head of the monster, who dodged it effortlessly with an unnatural contortion of its upper body. With a sickening and tauntingly slow motion back into a proper body position, its joints snapping and locking back into place as it lowered itself, the machine lunged for Ashe, and in less than a fraction of a second, she was effortlessly thrown out of the elevator.

"Who… _What_ are you!?" Ashe asked, not honestly expecting an answer, as she stumbled back onto her feet from the plush carpeting lining the new floor she had reached.

To her surprise, she got an answer, in the tone of a broken and robotic voice. It's tone changed with each syllable and it sounded as though it was recorded second hand, rather than being spoken right in front of her. "CODE NAME: SIARNAQ. SHADOW MEGA MAN. MODEL P."

"' _Model P…? It must be a biometal user! This must be what that Prometheus creep was warning us about!"_ Model A speculated.

"Are you part of that 'Game of Destiny' crap!?" Ashe barked at the unnatural reploid before her.

"AFFIRMATIVE. MISSION STATEMENT: EXTERMINATE ALL COMBATANTS." Siarnaq confirmed.

"Ext-excuse me!? I'm not gonna just sit here and let you kill me! If it's a fight you want it's a fight you get!" Ashe retorted as she drew her guns.

"CHALLENGE CONFIRMED. INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOL." Siarnaq stated, before a single shot hit his back. Unnervingly, his entire head turned back to gaze down at the young reploid who had shot him, Grey, who was still recovering from the bullet wound left by Ashe. Without a single second's hesitation, Grey was sent flying out the nearby window, in one effortless chuck.

"Grey, no!" Ashe shouted after him, but a kunai thrown by her opponent asserted she wasn't going to be pulling off a daring rescue at this time.

"Ugh… Alright, let's get this over and done with, you glorified mechaniloid." Ashe sighed in resignation, accepting her fate as the air grew still.

Siarnaq lunged, making the first move. Ashe stumbled off to the side, barely dodging and pelting his side with bullets, which only seemed to knock him over.

He quickly regained composure, throwing out a fan of kunai at his target, which she managed to dodge with surprising ease given the speed.

"I'm assuming you give me some sort of reflex boost, huh..?" Ashe asked as she continued her counterfire.

" _You're not very good at using it yet, though. Don't cut it so close, alright?"_ Model A scolded.

"Thanks for the tip." Ashe responded dryly.

With a wave of his arm, one plasma throwing star became three, and they were all flung at Ashe. She managed to out maneuver all but one, which she blocked with her right arm. Unfortunately, her armor wasn't quite strong enough to protect her completely, creating a deep wound in her arm. Crying out in pain, she hastily ripped the blade from her wound and cast it back at Siarnaq, but he had already moved from his position. In a flash of shadows, Siarnaq was right in front of her face, and threw her to the ground, choking her with one hand as she struggled to break free.

She gasped as the air was crushed out of her throat, the blood loss in her arm making her feel disoriented and causing the young girl to slowly begin to fall limp from the pressure.

...That is until a shot rang out, impacting Siarnaq's head. His grip laxed just enough while he inspected what hit him to allow her to kick him off with all her strength, knocking him several inches away.

The fight lulled as both her and Siarnaq examined where the shot rang from, revealing a reploid with two passengers clinging to him flying in from the window. As the trio landed, they stood, poised for battle. Axl and Zero had successfully managed to save Grey.

"Stand down, leave this to the professionals!" Zero stated to Ashe as he aimed his arm cannon at the deranged reploid.

"PRIVATE CONFRONTATION. NON-PARTICIPANTS OF THE GAME TO BE EXTERMINATED UPON INTRUSION." Siarnaq stated, his robotic tone shifting rapidly as if his agitation was effecting how manic his voice was.

"Sorry to intrude, then, but I'm gonna have to insist you let us play along." Axl taunted as his propeller hand disappeared, drawing his pistols from his hips.

"I-I'm not sure how this works but… I think I'm the only one equipped to kill it!" Ashe explained.

Zero scoffed. "Then you haven't seen my blade at work."

Without a moment more to hesitate, Zero lunged into the fray, clashing with Siarnaq's plasma throwing star, currently acting as a shield on his arm guard. Siarnaq pushed him away with a flick of his wrist, causing Zero to crash backwards. Siarnaq threw a shuriken at Zero's head, but it was deflected by a well time throw of a piece of glass, courtesy of Grey.

"I… Didn't think that'd work at all." He muttered under his breath, holding a few spare shards he had picked up from the ground.

With the speed at which he had moved, it seemed almost as if Siarnaq had teleported to where Grey was, but any further advance was stopped by Axl pouncing on the reploid, shooting countless rounds of plasma bullets into Siarnaq's face until his face armor began to crack.

Siarnaq eventually forced Axl off, throwing him into the ceiling and leaving him stuck in a crater formed. Zero attempted to retaliate with a stab through his now cracked head, but Siarnaq caught his blade and stole it, proceeding to swiftly spin it in reverse position to stab Zero through the hip with his own weapon.

Zero groaned before being thrown back across the room, next to where Ashe was standing.

"Sorry…" Ashe mumbled as she took the Z saber out of his hip.

"You said you're the only one who can kill him, right?" Zero muttered.

Ashe paused for a moment to consider, but decided to nod affirmingly. "If I understand what I've been told right…"

"Then... strike him down already." The reploid continued as he tried to sit up against the nearby wall, though the effort was straining to him.

" _I don't know about us being the only ones who can, but these guys don't seem to have the best of luck with it either, so… I guess we should give it a shot."_ Model A stated.

"Warming up to the fight, huh?" Ashe smiled.

" _Sh-shut it! You're the one who got us into this mess. I'm just trying to figure out how to get us out!"_ the biometal chided its owner.

Siarnaq teleported in front of Ashe and cut down the middle of her chest plate in a single second, and raised his arm guard to go for the killing stab into the freshly opened breach in her armor, but was blocked by the Z saber. The two energy weapons clashed, plasma seeping off both, before Ashe used the Model A's enhancements to her muscle strength to dart back several paces. Disturbingly, it seems Siarnaq almost anticipated this, as he didn't lose an ounce of balance and back off from their original position himself.

In the blink of an eye he was back within arm's reach of the girl, but this time he dislodged the plasma star from his arm and used it to strike through her left leg, sending her collapsing to the floor.

Siarnaq stood over his target, examining her as she groaned and gasped from the pain in her leg. "GAME: SET."  
"Damn… Straight…." Ashe gasped out between pained breaths. As fast as her crippled state could allow, she twirled the Z saber and used her remaining strength to send it right through Siarnaq's jaw. Cutting down from there, she decapitated the machine with a swift slash through the neck, ending the fight. The armor on Siarnaq dissipated, revealing a reploid with spiked jet black hair, purple clothing, and a red cloth obscuring his face. Amongst his limp body was another biometal, this one purple. Picking it up, Ashe examined its design, before a sudden surge of dizziness fell over her. Then and there, she fell unconscious as a voice rang through her head.

"EXTRACTING FROM CODE AW15 TO CE70. EXPANDING REPORT DATA." A robotic voice began, not unlike Siarnaq's, before being replaced by the voice of a soothing adult male.

"...Congratulations. The Model A I created is protected by a cipher that is broken only in battle. You, who broke the first cipher, are worthy to know it's truth and power. Through my research of the lost technology, I have created a key to unlock the door to a new evolution. Biometal Model W… He who holds it, will hold the power to rule the world. But it will take much time before people will finally appreciate my work. Sacrifices are necessary to awaken Model W. A sacrifice… Of free will. I wait the one who understands the necessary cost, the one worthy to receive my gift to humanity…."

"She's not waking up." Grey noted as he inspected the unconscious girl.

"Axl?" Zero, now back on his two feet, called out.

"Y-yeah..?" Axl began to speak before falling out of the hole in the ceiling.

"Status report. How severe are your injuries?" The older reploid asked.

"I'm stiff as a rock after hitting that wall, I don't think I can run and gun so well right now…" Axl noted.

"Then stay with the girl here. Boy, can you fight?" Zero asked Grey.

"Absolutely. I was just grazed in comparison to the damage you three got hit with." He responded.

"Then you're coming with me. We have to check on the sage trinity before evac gets here. Axl, tell Iris to message the reinforcements to send a dispatch team to your location." Zero commanded, earning a thumbs up from Axl. The two physically stable reploids split off from the group for their next destination, the top of Legion Headquarters.


End file.
